James Marusek

Yes. As you lose weight, the chemicals and hormones that were stored in your fat cells are being released into your body. These will pass through your kidneys and are expelled in your urine. But they can generate a flush of hormones during the weight loss phase. They should simmer down once you transition into maintenance phase. It is important to meet your daily Fluid requirements, because it take fluids to flush these hormones from your system properly.

@@Djmohr is on the right track. This is probably a vitamin/mineral deficiency. Our bodies are different. So even though you are taking the Vitamin regiment given by your doctor, your body might not be absorbing all the vitamins/minerals. That is why I undergo period blood work that identifies how well my vitamin levels are. They are fine tweeking my vitamin and mineral needs. As a result of this blood work, they determined that I was low on Iron, so I now take an iron supplement. Low iron levels can cause weakness. B12 is another important vitamin that can be related to weakness. In the case of this vitamin, you cannot take a time release version of B12. You need to take sublingual and the chemistry must be methylcobalamin for best absorption.

Yes, I think almost all of us went thru this. Lovenox (Enoxaparin) is a blood thinner. It helps reduce the chance of developing blood clots. So this is important. I normally gave this shot by pinching my skin together near my stomach. They gave me detailed directions. The major downside is that after about a week my body was covered with bruises. Because it is a blood thinner, it causes bruises. But after a month, my body healed up and the bruises went away.

It is common to crave crunchy foods after RNY gastric bypass surgery. This is because your body craves chewing. As you eat, chewing triggers a release of digestive fluids that aid digestion. But if your surgery was 10/24 you are way too early to make this transition. You want to give your stomach time to heal. My meal plan placed me on full liquids for the first four weeks, pureed food for the next 4 and only when I reached week 9 was I allowed solid foods. The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. Food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. (If you do not meet these daily requirements, they can lead to exhaustion.) Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein shakes.

I had RNY gastric bypass because I had severe acid reflux (GERD) prior to surgery and the sleeve will only make this condition worse. Also RNY gastric bypass is almost a gold standard. It has been around for several decades and they have most of the bugs worked out.

Many citrus fruits contain a high amount of natural sugars. This requirement does not last forever. I had RNY gastric bypass surgery. At 4 months post-op, oranges were added back into the list of food I could consume. After RNY surgery, the part of your stomach that normally processes fats and sugars has been cut away. So consuming too much sugar can cause dumping. Over time your intestines will realize something is wrong and begin to pick up the slack. That is why the this restriction is temporary. Also citrus is generally acidic and you want your stomach to heal without bathing it in a high acid content.

Like everything in life, there are trade-offs. I traded improved health for my love of food. It was a good decision. I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass surgery. I am much more active and my stamina (ability to perform physical labor) has improved dramatically.

Congratulations.

I am a little lost. Did you mean that you dropped from 343 to 241 pounds. Anyways congratulations on your weight loss. It is very common for individuals that have weight loss surgery to feel the cold. This is because fat is a very good insulator and when you lose it, you can feel the cold much more. Before surgery, I would sweat even when it was very warm outside. When the temperature dropped to freezing, I normally drove with the windows down. After surgery this all changed. I am really happy about the person who invented chemical hand warmers. In the cold winter when I go outside to shovel the snow, they seem to be the only thing that prevents my fingers from freezing up.

These are some of the recommendations from past threads to deal with constipation. * Eating apples with the skin * Smooth Move Herbal Tea * Prune Juice (warmed) * Prunes (4 in the morning and 4 at night) * Magnesium citrate * Insoluble fibers (Garden of Life Raw Fiber or Renew Life Triple Fiber). * Haribo Sugar Free Gummy Bears. (Be careful with this one because it can lead to diarrhea.) * Aerobic Magnesium 07 * Ground Flax Seeds (but don’t try to grind it yourself). Use 2 tablespoons per glass of water every night before going to bed. * Low Fat Bran Muffin (recipe). 80 calories each 1 cup flour 2 teaspoons baking powder ½ teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon cinnamon 2 cups bran cereal 1 ¼ cups milk 1 egg ½ tablespoon applesauce optional: banana, berries, mini chocolate chips Bake 400° F for 22 minutes

Congratulations.

After my RNY gastric bypass surgery 3 years ago, I completely lost my hunger. I found that it was not difficult losing the weight when hunger was not constantly continuously gnawing at my bones. Prior to surgery when I was eating I was already focusing on what I would eat in my next meal. The three most important elements after RNY gastric bypass surgery are to meet your daily Protein, Fluid and Vitamin requirements. food is secondary because your body is converting your stored fat into the energy that drives your body. Thus you lose weight. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein shakes.

Many individuals that have weight loss surgery experience better sex after surgery. This may not have anything to do with sperm count but more to do with the ability to achieve erection. One of the reasons why this is the case is because many of us have health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, severe acid reflux. These health issues are cause by a large part due to our obesity. Thus when we lose weight our health issues go into remission. So because we put our medical conditions to bed and also stop taking many of the medicines (which can also affect our sex lives), this element of our lives sees an improvement. Many women who have weight loss surgery become more fertile. I was thinking of having the surgery while she was pregnant. Is this a bad idea? You will be laid up for a couple weeks. Other than that I would think it is doable.

The surgeon and hospital where I had RNY gastric bypass surgery was located an hour and a half away from my home. Rather than distance being a deciding factor is the level of expertise. I had my surgery at a Center of Excellence. This is what the hospital and doctors specialized at. It was their main focus and they had many years of experience. It was also a one shop stop. All the elements of the program at one location. So even though I had to travel a little bit further, it was well worth it. It is a little bit like asking "Would you trust your local doctor to perform open heart surgery on you it you had a heart attack or would you travel a few extra miles to have it done at a facility with specialist that perform this type of surgery on a daily basis?"

Good luck on your transition back to the office. Let us know how the transition went.

Attached is a link to the condition that you are experiencing. It is very technical. http://spectrum.diabetesjournals.org/content/25/4/217 Here is another article but much less technical. It also has a good discussion on treatment and prevention. https://www.ridgeviewmedical.org/services/bariatric-weight-loss/enewsletter-articles/reactive-hypoglycemia-postgastric-bypass/

I used Muscle Milk Light (vanilla Creme) powder that I blended with Water and also blended in a half a banana to improve the taste. After surgery your taste buds may change, mine did. So be prepared to experiment. Whatever Protein shake you use should have high protein (for example 20 grams) and low sugar (for example 1 gram).

20 stone 8 pounds or a grand total of 204 pounds is a good weight loss. Congratulations.

Good luck on your upcoming surgery and check back with us when you are on the other side.

I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass. Sleeve patients lose weight slower than RNY patients. I transitioned into the maintenance phase at 7 months but many sleeve patients can go a couple years before they level off. I lost a lot of weight quickly and my stalls lasted for only days whereas sleeve patients can lose the same weight that I did but they encounter many week long stalls along the way. Weight loss is achieved after surgery through meal volume control. I began at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet my Protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein shakes. At 4 months I was allowed 4 ounces per meal. According to the internet: The average weight for one boneless, skinless chicken breast lobe is 5.25 ounces. Therefore, a full breast, or double lobe, weighs 10.50 ounces. So if you are eating 1/2 of a chicken breast lobe, it sounds like you are eating a comparable amount of food that I ate. In looking over your typical menu, it looks like you are getting high protein meals. One thing to do now at this stage is to assess your protein intake. Your protein requirement is met by a combination of the protein from your meals combined with the protein from your supplements (protein shakes, protein bars). Since your meal volume is beginning to increase, that also means that the amount of protein from meals is increasing, especially if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals. Therefore you could be able to reduce your reliance on supplements and the calories they contain. I went from 3 protein shakes a day, down to 2, then 1 and finally zero when my meal volume increased to 1 cup per meal at a year and a half. That was the technique that I used to break the few stalls that I encountered. Sugar was one of the main reasons why I gained so much weight prior to surgery. It is imperative to stay away from products that have sugar after surgery. Artificial sweeteners (such as Splenda, and sugar alcohols) and very low calorie natural sweeteners (stevia) are fine and many are incorporated into a variety of products in the supermarket shelves today. But avoid sugar like a plague. I can't really offer any advice about psychological issues. If you are not already attending monthly bariatric surgery support group meeting, by all means attend them. They should be free to attend and at least it is a place where you can vent and ask for advice.

I do not perceive that it had any adverse reaction on my marriage. I am 3 years post-op RNY gastric bypass and I have been married for over 40 years. I think it had a positive impact because it put many of my health issues in remission, so I will live longer and also more capable of household chores. My wife doesn't want to be left alone if I passed early. From what I read, some individuals experience chaotic emotions after surgery because as the fat cells dissolve they release chemicals and hormones that are stored within. Therefore they experience a hormonal flush. This generally dies down once they reach the maintenance phase. It also appears that many individuals can become more sexually active after weight loss and also more fertile.

Good luck on whatever you decide.

Experimentation is the key. It is common for your taste buds to change after surgery. I remember in the hospital after surgery I could not drink the Water because it tasted very chlorinated. Eventually I found flavored water such as Crystal Light to work O.K. Many experience problems drinking Protein shakes. I hated them. But in the beginning I drank them, three 16-ounce Protein Shakes a day, in order to meet my protein requirements. You do not have to like protein shakes only tolerate them. There are many varieties of protein shakes available today. Experiment until you can find one you can tolerate. Over time as your meal volume increases, if you concentrate on consuming high protein meals, you can begin to reduce your reliance on protein shakes. I went from 3 a day, down to 2, down to 1 and eventually none when I reached 1 cup per meal at a year and a half post-op. What worked best for me was using Muscle Milk Light (Vanilla Creme) blended with water and a half a banana. I used a Ninja single serving blender to get a smooth not lumpy Protein shake.

There are two stages to RNY gastric bypass surgery. The first is the "weight loss" phase and the second is the "maintenance" phase. I had RNY surgery 3 years ago. I transition into the maintenance phase around the 7th month. This article describes my experience in the maintenance phase. http://www.breadandbutterscience.com/Surgery2.pdf

Most Protein shakes will have 20 grams of protein and minimal sugar. Slim Fast Advanced Nutrition says it has as much as 20 grams of protein and as little as 1 gram of sugar. So it sounds like a good Protein shake. But Slim Fast Original has 10 grams of protein and a whopping 18 grams of sugar, so I would definitely stay away from the original variety. Weight loss is achieved after RNY gastric bypass surgery through meal volume control. You begin at 2 ounces (1/4 cup) per meal and gradually over the next year and a half increase the volume to 1 cup per meal. With this minuscule amount of food, it is next to impossible to meet your protein daily requirements by food alone, so therefore you need to rely on supplements such as Protein Shakes. So overall it seems like you are beginning in the pre-op stage with making a good transition to the protein supplements that you will need to carry you through the post-op stage.